I have been lookng at the Epson 2000, storage device to download photos to from my cards. I have a Canon 20d and need something battery operated and small to store photos on while in the field.
Does anyone have experience with the Epson or other devices.

The Epson P-2000 is not the cheapest but I have seen good reviews of it, although on searching they seem to be not as readily available right now. Amazon.com don't have them anymore for example.

What I mean about knowing what you want is that the P-2000 let's you view your images on an LCD, just like your camera does. Are you with me so far ? Do you really feel the need to look at your images again on a fairly small screen after you have looked at them on a fairly small screen (your camera) ? Other machines also offer this facility but usually at a premium. Some have the ability to play music files, again with additional uses such as this, it will likely cost more. If I were to buy one I would be happy with something that gave me a clear indication that transfer was taking place, and then that it had ended the process. I wouldn't want to view my pictures on one, I would do that on the computer when I got home, or checked and deleted the iffy ones before transferring them.

The Vosonic X'S range of portable drives are very popular and they anda number of otherportable devices allow you to put your own hard drive in them. They all pretty much take a lap top size hard drive.

I just bought an Epson2000. I really like it so far and easy to transfer images to. The Screen is 3.8 inches and amazingly sharp. The 40 gig hard drive is up to the job as far as storge space. The ability to carry it negates toting prints around. For me it is worth the cost and does the job I wanted it for.

I had the Transcend Digital Album 20 gig for just a few weeks. I decided I didn't need it and would just dump to my laptop when traveling. Sold it to another FMer in the Buy and Sell Section of www.fredmiranda.com Now I have 6 gigs worth of CF cards so shouldn't be a problem.

BTW, I purchased the Transcend Digital Album based upon Steve's review.

Stevekin, miles, Troutguy; thanks for the input as it is most helpful. Been talking with Troutguy about a upcoming river trip and realized I needed either a bunch of CF cards or some other storage medium. Laptop is out of the question and there will be other trips. Viewer is not necessary, but the Epson seemed to be the one by what I was reading.
Steve,Troutguy, thanks for the other names, I will have a good look at them as well.
You guys wish Troutguy well as he is about to take on a significant other soon. Best wishes buddy.

Hey Golfer, thanks for the kind words. I'm just hoping while you're canoeing on the Buffalo River you don't dump your 20D in:lol::lol::lol: I still have my Sony DSC-F707 and it took me two years before I'd take that on the water; think that will still suffice and the 20D will stay on dry land.

Hmmmmm, lets' see now; for a fee I might let you store your images on my laptop while you are down here in Arkansas or...maybe I can rent you one of my 2 gig CF cards.:whack:

Viewer is not necessary, but the Epson seemed to be the one by what I was reading.

Golfer, going with your first choice can quite often be the right decision, especially if you don't getany negative views on it, as the case seems to be with the Epson. But it doesn't hurt to have alternatives suggested keeping your options fully open. In any case, looking at those alternatives can sometimes make your first choice all the more attractive. Enjoy your trip and keep the strap of that 20D wrapped around your neck, tucked in to your diving suit. Of course the best way to ensure you don't get your camera wet is to not actually sit in the canoe, but walk along the river's edge, dragging the boat behind you. May take a little longer than planned though :G.

Derrall, it seems congratulations are in order to yourself and Patty.

Congratulations . Hope all goes well. And hey, look on the bright side,then you will have better access to the A2, to sort any more problems out :G.

Stevekin, thanks for the updates, yes, the great thing about information is it gives you options. Thanks for your input and hlep once again.
Troutguy, just what do you think the rent would be on a CF card, LOL

I thought about getting a Apacer Disc Steno CP-200instead of borrowing my father's all the time, but I just found cheap ($41.00) one gig memory cards at newegg.com. I bought on to go with my 2gb card I already have.

When I travel I talk 3GB's of memory with me, a Dell laptop, and around12 CD-R's (picked up a CD case at wal-mart for 0.99 and keep it in the camerabag) a power inverter that will allow me to plug the laptop in and charge my BP-511 camera batteries while I drive. I pick up the inverter for$10.00 on clearance at Target after Christmas. So I'm set.Yes it would be easier to take the Apacer, but I can't watch DVD's on it unless I take a TV along.

My Honda Elemement has two cigratte light plugs one in the very back and one in the dash. I plug a AA battery car-charger into the front one. In the back outlet I plug the inverter in, then the laptop to that, and then the battery charger. (it has two plugs) I could leave the laptop unplugged but it dranes power when watching DVD's

I highly recommend the Epson P2000 for your trip. I bought mine just before an eight-day trip to San Miguel de Allende, Mexicolast month. I used it to download photos from a Lexar one-gig CF card from my Nikon D70. I downloaded a total of 2,484 large/fine photos from that camera during the trip. When the CF card started to fill up, I would just find a sidewalk cantina and put the card in the P2000 and start downloading. Faster than you could say "Una cerveza, por favor", the download would be complete. I would then review the photos on the high-resolution monitor to make sure they were all transferred to the P2000. Once I was satisfied that the photos were all safely aboard the Epson, I wouldput the card back in the camera and reformat it. That made theNikonready for another 300 or more large/fine photos.

I added the FlashTrax media adapter (about $40) to the camera bag so that I could also download the 640X480 mpeg clips from the Memory Stik in my wife's Sony DSC-P32. The Epson viewer will store but will not playMPG files for display on its screen. I used the SD card capability of the Epson P2000 to download an SD chip from one of our fellow travelers and her AVI files played beautifully.

All in all we downloaded and carried home nearly 9Gb of JPG and MPG files from Mexico. The transfer to our home computers was quick and complete using the USB 2.0 interface.

The P2000 is rapidly becoming the second most valuable piece of equipment in my camera bag (I still love my D70 best).